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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ackerman: Youth violence a public health issue | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/19/2010

Ackerman: Youth violence a public health issue | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/19/2010:

"Philadelphia School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman says she goes to bed angry every night and wakes up angry every morning.

There were about 15,000 violent and nonviolent incidents in city public schools last year - down 5 percent from the year before, but still far too many, the schools chief said in an interview yesterday.

'Fifteen thousand is not something we should be proud of,' she said.

Occasionally, public outrage bubbles up - in December over the beating of Asian students at South Philadelphia High, this week when a mob of high school students threw punches and damaged property in Center City. But that's not enough, the superintendent said."